Bloors Homes will be holding a “Public Exhibition” Thursday 13th December St Peter’s Rooms 3-7pm showcasing their revised plans for the controversial proposed RUD01 (the land off Wilford Road) development. Despite not yet being released for housing, Bloors, who have been openly interested in building on this land, have once again submitted premature revised plans for the area.
The event, which has had minimal promotion, with the flyer only just hitting some local resident’s homes in the last week or so will no doubt be designed to try and “alleviate” concerns that were raised in their 2015 plans – that showed no regard for the local area and infrastructure. However, the new plans fail to do so, in fact in some regard are worse as the development is no longer needed to fulfill Ruddington’s Green Belt quota, following the disappointing approval of the Asher Lane development.
We believe the developer will be relying on a minimal turn out at this event, to show reduced negativity towards the plans – having needlessly arranged the event during this busy time of year and doing little to advertise it. Thus, we urge everyone who opposes these plans, should the land be released; to ensure they are heard either by attending, writing to Bloors and/or Rushcliffe’s planning department.
The Plans were recently discussed at Government’s Planning Inspectorate on the 4th of Dec – where representatives from Ruddington, such as the Parish Council and community groups including Protect Ruddington; spoke out incredibly well on behalf of residents against this development. Further details can be found over at RUDDINGTON.info who covered the story earlier this month.
Not only has the developer opted to resubmit these plans prior to the land even being released for development; Bloor’s “solutions” to some of the key concerns about this area remain insufficient. Their document fails to address local infrastructure concerns, suggest further unnecessary changes of use to surrounding agricultural land to help reduce flooding, and propose 170 homes on land that even if allowed to build on has only been allocated 130.
A member of Protect Ruddington and local resident commented “IF RUD01 is released, it is quite clearly ludicrous to suggest Bloor’s could accommodate 170 houses within the footprint they show and yet still leave a nice clear outlook of fields from along Wilford Road PLUS bungalows with long gardens bordering existing housing. Diverting Packman Dyke to accommodate their balancing pond and thus actually “develop” further Green Belt land which is not even in the Local Plan Part 2 is also completely unacceptable. Not only that but raising the land around Sellors’ Playing Field would cause surface water to run off into it and make it unusable for half of the year. That is NOT where we want Ruddington’s new swimming pool!”
Most notably, and frustratingly, the developer states that they have ‘chosen’ to not include Sellors’ Playing field in their plans – when in fact it was local campaigning that led the Parish Council to decided not to sell the land for development. This act alone, puts into perspective the intentions and questionable methods of this particular developer – who from what we understand has been engaged in pre-proposal discussions for some time.
So, despite not requiring the additional Green Belt development, RUD01 seems to remain at risk. Campaigners, local groups and some councillors remain vigilant and proactive in the removal of these plans – but we ask that you remain vocal and not give up on saving the only remaining rural area within the village.
Protect Ruddington 